How to Make Money by Giving Away a Free Report

Making money from a free report seems counterintuitive, doesn't it? If you think about it, though, with the plethora of free reports circling around the internet, the authors must have something to gain from it, right?

There are several ways to benefit from a free report other than making money, of course. Some authors are simply passionate about their subject. Others want to solve a problem or support a cause. Still others want to increase their visibility, prestige, or just see their name in print!

When it comes down to it though, there are many ways to bring in cash by giving information away for free. Let's take a look at how anyone can make this happen.

A free report can easily become a "viral" piece of advertising, meaning that it propagates itself across the internet widely and quickly. This is because there is no more attractive price than free! Surfers will gladly download a free report, and if it contains quality information, they will share it with their friends.

You can augment this effect by using a simple solution like Viral Friend Generator, a new product by internet marketing legend Mike Filsaime. It works on the principle that if you make it easy for people to share your website, they will. If you make it difficult, they won't. So make it easy!

After you manage to get your report all over the net, it can start bringing in cash immediately. When you mention services or products that have an affiliate program, you can put your own affiliate link in the report to get credit when readers click through to the merchant.

For example, if I have a report about autoresponders, I would put my own affiliate link for Aweber, my autoresponder service, rather than Aweber's generic link. If enough people see my report and find it useful, a few are bound to sign up for this service through my link, earning me a commission.

A free report can serve as a teaser for a larger or more in-depth report or ebook on the same general theme. If you provide quality information, yet hold out a few gems for your paying customers, some readers will choose to pay for what's in the full report.

The same can be said for a membership site or mentorship/coaching program. Before anyone signs up for your program, they are going to want to have an idea of the quality of the product you are offering. With a free report, they get an inside look at you and your operations, and it can inspire the confidence in you they need to sign on the dotted line.

A free report also serves as the perfect offer visitors to your website need in order to turn over their name and email address. If you ask your visitors to enter their personal information and don't offer anything in return, it's not much of an offer! That one email address can become very valuable over time as you find back-end offers that you think would fit the interests and needs of the people on your list.

Ironically enough, giving away a free report is one of the most profitable marketing tactics on the internet today. If you take a look at the most successful internet marketers, it is immediately obvious that one of their greatest assets is their list of opt-in email subscribers. Whenever they come out with a new product or service, they can simply send out a message to thousands of people who are used to hearing from them, have probably bought from them before, and are thus more likely to purchase from them in the future. The whole process can be kick-started with a free report, so don't be afraid to start giving away valuable information for free. It just may pay off big time!